PAUL FESTA
WRITER

Winner of the 2024 Samuel Prize from Lambda Literary for his novel-in-progress Materano, Paul Festa is the author of OH MY GOD: Messiaen in the Ear of the Unbeliever, based on his acclaimed film Apparition of the Eternal Church. His essays, criticism, reporting, and poetry appear in numerous publications and anthologies, including the New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, Salon, three editions of the Best Sex Writing series, and Nerve: The First Ten Years. He teaches fiction writing and a wide range of other subjects in the humanities and practicing arts at Bard College Berlin and the Barenboim-Said Academy. Other awards and fellowships include MacDowell, Yaddo, ODC Theater, and Le Centre des Récollets.